Appreciation
by HecateA
Summary: An easy thing to get if you're a knight on a white horse, but hard when you're the gentle giant. Who's ever wanted the loser, after all? Oneshot.


**Hi! I feel like it's been a long time since I've posted, so here's some Frazel that will eventually look like Frazel during the story. I think this illustrates a problem Frank has a person, and that Hazel may be able to fix in the HoO books. I hope you enjoy the story, and good luck to anyone who has exams this week (like I do. If I fail my gym exam it's Rick Riordan's fault).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Frank and Emily Zhang, or Hazel Levesque. Also most of the last few scenes were taken from The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, word by word. **

* * *

**Appreciation**

* * *

**Third Grade**

The last person to leave the birthday party was one Rebecca Castle.

Frank had a select group of friends that kept coming back year after year, instead of a huge group of shifting faces. One of those permanent fixtures was Rebecca, whose friendship with Frank had survived cootie epidemics, awkward health class revelations and all the other factors that tore apart girl/boy friendships in elementary school.

Emily sat on the porch and watched them kick a soccer ball around the backyard. Frank was letting her get to the ball first, and had taken his footwork a notch down to give Rebecca a standing chance. They were both laughing and taunting each other, and were pretty good at it for third graders. Frank tripped over his shadow, as Frank was prone to doing, and Rebecca put the game on hiatus and helped him back up. Rebecca would get to the goal established between two trees and Frank would take his time to go up and protect it. When she scored he was as happy as she was. It was cute.

When the doorbell rung she got up and called them both over.

"Becca, I think your dad's here."

Frank picked up the ball and followed Rebecca to the front door on Emily's heels, to go let Rebecca's father in.

* * *

**Fourth Grade**

There was a ruckus in the garage when Emily headed downstairs at ten in the morning after sleeping in.

She went to check out the noise. It ended up being Frank looking through the boxes of old sports gear that had been there since before his Grandmother was born; Rebecca standing there twisting her hands.

"Hey guys," Emily said.

"Good morning Mrs. Zhang," Rebecca said. She came forwards to hug Emily around the waist.

"Hello Becca, how are you sweetheart?" She asked ruffling the little girl's hair.

"Very well, yourself?" She asked. She had these practised lines when talking to people, even those she had known for ages, because of her parent's strict etiquette. She was a kid who was going to majorly revolt against her parents when the teenage hormones hit.

"I'm very well, Rebecca." Emily said.

Frank came over for his hug. He tended to be sticky when she came back from deployment; he liked being close to her and around her and doing things together- which was totally fine by Emily.

She kissed his hair.

"Did we wake you up?" Frank panicked.

"Oh no," she said.

"Good," Frank sighed.

"What are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for a helmet for Rebecca because we want to go biking but she doesn't have one and I think she should so that she doesn't get hurt."

"Good idea," Emily said. "They're on this shelf here." She said putting the box back on the shelf and climbing a ladder to reach for the box in question. There was actually a girl's one with daisies painted on it. It must have been hers as a child, she couldn't remember.

"Here we go Becca," Emily said handing it down to Frank. "See if that one fits."

It did and so the two were on their way to go biking.

"Am I allowed to go?" Frank asked as an afterthought.

"Of course," Emily said. "Are you two going to want lunch when you get back?"

Frank looked at Becca like 'you can decide'.

"If it's not any trouble," she said with her scripted politeness. It was one of numerous adorable things about Becca. The little girl was tiny, and she had brown curls to her mid-back and big doe eyes. She always wore a hoody with sleeves that were too long and Emily had never seen her without the little button earrings shaped like butterflies.

"Not at all," Emily said. "Be back by around twelve, okay? And stay out of people's yards."

"Yes mom," Frank said. He pulled the garage open for Becca and held it open for her. She walked her bike out and he climbed over his and whizzed down the driveway, letting the door fall behind him.

She leaned against the doorframe and bit her lip. Something was different. She smiled. It wasn't like she hadn't seen it coming, though.

* * *

**Seventh Grade**

Emily came home from work and Frank's usual group of friends –the reformed group, post changing to middle school- was crashed in the living room, playing video games. Cory, Tyler, Jane and Dakota-Ann were there, as well as Rebecca who wasn't quite in that group but whom Frank still talked to and hung around with. Rebecca's hair had blond streaks coursing through it now, and her earrings were dangling feathers instead of butterflies. She was wearing a loose crop top over a tank and a skirt that looked pretty short from where Emily stood.

"Hey guys," she said.

"'Lo Mrs. Zhang," the chorus replied. She glanced at the screen to confirm her suspicion on what was being killed today –zombies- before moving on to the kitchen to put a casserole in the oven. When she backtracked to the living room she noticed an unfamiliar face, one that Rebecca was leaning against- a guy who looked a bit older than the rest of the group, with spiky brown hair and the bluest eyes in the world. Mostly she noticed that Rebecca was leaning against him and she cringed a bit.

* * *

"So, I saw Cory and Tyler, Jane and Kota-Ann, but who was Rebecca's… friend?" She asked, having snuck into the kitchen to help Frank do the dishes.

"He's not a friend mom," Frank said. "He's her boyfriend. His name's Noah. That's a stupid name isn't it?"

Emily didn't point out that he'd picked 'Frank' out for himself in kindergarten when he'd decided after five years of bearing a Chinese name that it wasn't going to work out.

"It goes with his stupid face and his stupid hair though. Like, seriously, he looks like a mace. You could kill your enemies with freaking Noah's head because of his freaking hair."

"Of course," she said softly, agreeing with his rant instead of trying to talk some sense into him.

* * *

**Eight Grade**

Rebecca's fists were clenched and she wasn't watching the movie Frank had put on. It was a chick flick Emily had gotten as a Christmas present from someone who visibly didn't know her very well. She was wrapped in a blanket and leaning on Frank's arm.

Emily didn't say a word; she just made eye contact with Frank. He gently nudged Rebecca off and followed his mother into the kitchen.

"So," she said putting groceries away. "What's going on?"

"Becca's boyfriend's a nasty slime ball and he sent… _pictures_ of her to people and people were being real jerks with her at school and her parents yelled at her so I went to get her because she called and didn't know what to do," Frank said.

"Noah?" Emily asked.

"No. This one's name is Louis." Frank said.

Emily sensed a certain tenseness about the way he said it, other than just being mad at this Louis boy for hurting Rebecca.

"Tell her she can stay for dinner then, sweetheart." Emily said kissing his ear. "Good call on going to get her, Frank."

* * *

**Ninth Grace**

Emily tapped her pen against the breakfast nook. Frank was sitting on the other side looking like a man on death row.

"Why?" She asked. "Why in the _world _would you punch someone? Have I not told you enough times that violence isn't the answer? Haven't I made that very clear to you from the time you were seven that hitting people and using brute force got you nowhere and didn't make you a good and strong person?"

She was fuming, which might be a little unfair. His father was the god of war so –curse Mars Ultor- he had that genetic factor somewhere inside of him under all the sweetness, and she was a soldier. Maybe those months spent on a battlefield and away from home were influencing him some way.

All the more reasons why she'd been telling him violence wasn't the answer since he was a child and all the more reasons why she was currently pissed.

"You have," Frank gulped. "But I'm still a better person than the other guy."

"You're going to have to make a convincing case to get away with that one," Emily said trying not to get too angry. "How so?"

"He…" Frank swallowed his words.

"No Frank, you aren't going to hold this back from me." Emily cut. "Why?"

"He told Rebecca that if she kept talking to some of her friends he'd break up with her," Frank said.

Emily's energy deflated. This was another serial-dater story.

"And you were one of those friends?"

"Probably," Frank said. "I don't know. I'm just pissed off that he said that to her."

"Okay look Frank," Emily said. "It's a horrible thing to say, you're right about that. But you're not right about punching him."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Emily took a deep breath.

"It's alright. I'm not going to ground you or anything; I think the school's taken care of that well enough. But if you ever do it again, there will be consequences."

"Yes Mom," Frank said.

"Alright," Emily said. "Go do your homework."

Frank hopped off the high stool and he was just about to climb the stairs when Emily called out his name again. He turned around.

"Tell Becca to learn how to pick them better," she sighed.

Frank looked down at his feet. "Sure."

* * *

**Tenth Grade**

She'd seen Frank for approximately ten minutes since he'd gotten back from wherever he and his friends had been goofing off today, and that was because he'd taken ten minutes out of his time to come down from his room during supper and play around with his favourite meal before saying that he wasn't hungry and heading back upstairs.

"He's just upset because school starts again tomorrow," her mother said. "Or because you're being deployed this Friday."

Emily had discarded that and went upstairs to see him after supper.

She plopped down on his bed next to him. His eyes were fixed on the ground.

Emily plopped down next to her son and ran her hand up and down his back.

"When you were a kid you used to think that Moms had superpowers because your Grandmother and I could always tell when you had just stolen a cookie from the cookie jar," Emily said. "Tell you what my real superpower is: figuring out when my son's not feeling good."

"That's just a bit better than Aquaman," Frank said softly. Usually geeky jokes got more energy put into them than that.

"What's going on, Frank?" Emily asked.

He hunched his shoulders, as if he was curling up on himself.

"I'm really tired of being the nice guy, Mom. I mean, it's hard."

"Okay… yes," Emily nodded. "It most certainly is."

"Yeah and then all you get in exchange is a girl whose crying because her jerk-ass boyfriend dumped her in front of the whole school at a party to hook up with her little sister, and you just skipped your plans to let her cry on your shoulder because you're not a jerk-ass guy and you don't want her to deal with that alone. And then she cries and cries and cries and ends up topping it off by saying that she wished that there were more guys like you in the world. Well hell, I was _right there. _And it sucks when a girl says that but you've always been _right there." _

"Oh, sweetheart," Emily said pulling her son into a hug. He sounded both frustrated and upset and deeply hurt. "You really like this girl, don't you?"

Frank nodded against her chest and a name sprung to Emily's mind. Rebecca Castle. Since grade five.

"But I'm so invisible to her. She's my friend, but I keep wishing she weren't so that there'd be an excuse for her not to even see or know me."

"Sweetheart, no matter how much you love someone if they can't appreciate you and who you are they're not the right person." Emily said. "Now, is this about Becca? Don't you lie to me Frank Zhang."

He didn't even try, just nodded. But there wasn't anything more Emily could say. He cared about Rebecca way too much for anything she had to say to make sense to him. And so she didn't say anything so that he wasn't mad.

_You've been picking her up for nine years as a friend, and you've been picking her up about boys for three years._ Emily thought. _Don't you think that maybe, if she can pick them as badly as she can, that's why she hasn't picked you yet?_

* * *

**Tenth Grade**

Frank sat in the corner of his room because it was the only place from which he couldn't see the family pictures tacked to his door, no matter how he craned his neck. He couldn't deal with that right then. Not after what the military officers had said, showing up to his door on a Saturday that should have been like any Saturday.

He'd just broken down and went on a twenty-minute long crying/yelling-in-a-pillow streak. Now he was just sitting in his room, shivering and upset and angry but too drained to cry or yell in a pillow.

He couldn't deal with it alone though, but he wanted nothing to do with the guys in military dress downstairs, and Grandmother just couldn't help right then. She was grieving her daughter just as much as Frank was grieving his mom.

He texted Tyler, Cory, Kota-Ann and Jane.

_Zhang_

_**guys my mom got shot **_

_J-J_

_**Oh my god Frank is she okay?**_

Frank swallowed.

_Zhang_

_**No. **_

_J-J_

_**No like no-no or no like no-no-no **_

_Cory_

_**hang on we're coming **_

_T. _

**_I'll b late. I have to stop convenience store 4 ice cream._**

_Kota _

_**how does Avatar sound? I'll bring season 3 w/ the firebenders & you can pick if we watch.**_

_J-J_

_**Ty I have choco ice cream, don't get that one. Get him rocky road its his fave.**_

Frank's throat stayed clogged. He'd never been more thankful.

Frank texted someone else.

_Zhang_

_**Becca I need to talk, u there?**_

_Becca_

_**Sorry Frank gtg Jim just pulled up to the house. Talk 2 u l8er**_

He nearly hurled his phone across the room.

* * *

**First year of Service in the Twelfth Legion Fulminata**

"You okay?" Frank asked. "You look queasy."

"Seasickness," she confessed. "I didn't think it would be this bad."

Frank pouted like it was somehow his fault. He started digging in his pack. "I've got some nectar. And some crackers. Um, my grandmother says ginger helps… I don't have any of that, but-"

"It's okay." Hazel mustered a smile. "That's sweet of you, though."

* * *

"You didn't deserve Asphodel," Frank protested. "You should be with the heroes."

"This is just an echo," Hazel said. "We'll wake up, Frank. It only _seems _like forever."

"That's not the point!" he protested. "Your life was taken from you. You were going to grow up to be a beautiful woman. You…"

His face turned a darker shade of purple. "You were going to marry someone," he said quietly. "You would have had a good life. You lost all that."

* * *

He [Percy] tried to focus as Frank and Hazel talked. Hazel was reassuring Frank that he'd done everything he could for his grandmother. Frank had saved them from the Laistrygonians and gotten them out of Vancouver. He'd been incredibly brave.

* * *

Frank hovered over them, yelling, "Oh, gods! Oh, gods! Oh, gods!"

He yanked some extra clothes from his bag and started towelling off Hazel's face, but it didn't do much good. He dragged Percy farther from the muskeg.

"You were down there so long!" Frank cried. "I didn't think- oh, gods, don't _ever _do something like that again!"

He wrapped Hazel in a bear hug.

"Can't- breathe," she choked out.

"Sorry!" Frank went back towelling and fussing over them.

* * *

Frank cleared his throat. "Look, we passed as tore on the last block. We've got a little money left. Maybe I should go get you guys some food and clothes and- I don't know- a hundred boxes of wet wipes or something?"

Hazel put the gold prospecting sign back over her mementos. She felt guilty even looking at that old picture of Sammy, with Frank trying to be so sweet and supportive. It didn't do any good to think about her old life.

"That would be great," she said. "You're the best, Frank."

* * *

He couldn't read her expression. He was afraid he'd finally done something so weird that she'd never want to be around him again. Frank Zhang: lumbering klutx, child of Mars, part-time pachyderm.

Then she kissed him- a real kiss on the lips, much better than the kind of kiss she'd given Percy on the airplane.

"You are amazing," she said. "And you make a very handsome elephant."

* * *

Besides, Frank had already given enough. He had watched his family home burn down. He'd lost his mother and his grandmother.

"You risked your life," Percy said. "You were willing to burn up to save the quest. Mars can't expect more than that."

"Maybe," Frank said doubtfully.

Hazel squeezed Frank's hand.


End file.
